Wednesday 19 March 2014

Brenneisen, Grauburgunder 2012

The wines of local vintner Dirk Brenneisen have featured on this blog before. The odyssey now continues with what, for me, is the most impressive of the lot so far.

Weingut Brenneisen, Grauburgunder trocken 2012, Baden, Germany
This was fermented in a large oak cask and then left on its lees for seven months. The result is an expressive, multilayered aroma with only very delicate cask notes lending a lovely savoury feel. Strawberry, honeydew melon, cashew nuts and complex smoky hints.

Well-integrated and balanced on the palate. The cask notes lift the other flavours into clear relief: mainly red berries and melon with a slight starfruit twist at the end. The wine is bone dry 0.7 g/l according to the label, but there is a fresh sweetness that belies this. Smoky, flinty notes emerge on the finish tasting blind, I might have mistaken this for a Silvaner. The alcohol level is only 12 percent but there is an amazing density of flavour. I'm not saying this is grand cru quality, but for a measly eight euros, this is the best-value wine I've enjoyed in a long while.

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